Monday March 11 was Labour Day in the State of Victoria, where Melbourne is located. We will celebrate Labour Day twice in 2019!! Once in March in Melbourne and once in September in Chicago (our Chicago Jazz Festival long weekend visit).
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for our day trip to the Mornington Peninsula. We were picked up by Grayline Coach at 7:35 a.m. at a nearby hotel. There were about 14 people on the trip. As we were the first to board, we got the first two seats across from the driver. Geoff was our driver and guide. He was born in England, but moved to Australia over 40 years ago. He was celebrating his 21st year driving for Grayline and was in semi-retirement. He was a very affable guy and had lots of stories.
Monday was mainly cloudy and we had on and off rain on the Peninsula (high of around 18C). When we returned to Melbourne at 5:30 p.m., it was clear and sunny (high 22C in Melbourne).
Our first stop was Mornington, a very pretty town on the coast of the Peninsula. We had about 30 minutes to explore.
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| Mornington harbour |
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| Beautiful beach- quiet at about 9:30 a.m. |
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| An incredible view back at Melbourne--- about an hour drive away |
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| Mailing a letter |
We had time to stop for our morning coffee at The Winey Cow. The place was packed at around 10:00 a.m. with folks having their breakfast. The Mornington Peninsula is a getaway place for Melbourne folks and many have holiday homes in the area, or go there for a long weekend/holiday. Since the weather wasn't great, everyone seemed to be having brunch.
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| Server picking up a coffee order |
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The Winey Cow
After a good coffee made with "Orthodox" beans, we walked up the street and noticed another restaurant called Mr. Jackson, with a great neon sign: Eat. Beach. Sleep. Repeat. Alain noticed the Toby's Estate umbrellas and we found out they had Toby's Estate coffee beans. We always go to Toby's Estate when we are in NYC. Unfortunately, we had just had a coffee.
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| Mr. Jackson |
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| Toby's Estate umbrellas outside Mr. Jackson |
We then got back on the bus and drove through Safety Beach and Dromana, two lovely beach towns on the coast of the Peninsula. We then passed through Rosebud, which apparently is one of the most popular spots to holiday. It had started to rain (not in the forecast- but we were in the bus).
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| Sign for Rosebud Kite Festival |
Our driver pointed out a number of colourful shacks on the beach. Apparently these are very old and can only be rented by the day. One cannot spend the night in these buildings.
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| Shacks on the beach |
We then drove to our second stop, The Cup's Estate winery, for a tasting. It had just started to drizzle. The Cup's Estate is a boutique vineyard, olive grove and cellar door situated in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula. The vineyard is planted on the sandy soils of 'the cups', an area known for its picturesque sand dunes. The vineyard has been in operation since 1999. We tasted a lovely 2014 Cups Cuvée; a 2017 Pinot Gris, 2017 Rosé, 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir and a 2015 Syrah. We were given large pieces of toasted bread with their olive oil and a large dish of olives. We really liked the Cuvée, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. The wines were quite pricey but very good and the olives were superb.
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| Tasting table |
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| The winery dog |
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| Setting up outside for lunch guests- but it had started to drizzle |
Our next stop was Flinders, a wonderful beach town on the other side of the Peninsula. We had 45 minutes to wander around and have lunch on our own. We then were meeting on the main street at the Mornington Peninsula Chocolaterie for a chocolate tasting. Alain and I took the opportunity to explore a number of great art galleries which lined one side of the main street. One of the gallerists recommended Pier Provedore for sandwiches and coffee. We made a quick stop, had another coffee and ordered a bacon and scrambled egg sandwich on sourdough bread to share. Aussies and Kiwis have the best bacon and this sandwich is a favourite. It comes with a tomato jam. This was one town we wished we had more time to explore.
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| Pier Provedore - Supreme Coffee beans and great sandwiches |
Our guide told us the story of Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), whom the town of Flinders on the Peninsula and Flinder's Street and Lane in Melbourne are named after. He was an English navigator and cartographer who led the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent. He made three voyages to the southern ocean between 1791 and 1810. In the second voyage, George Bass (the ship's surgeon whom Flinders had befriended on his first voyage) confirmed that Tasmania was an island and in the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated what was to be called Australia.
Heading back to England in 1803, his vessel needed urgent repairs at Mauritius. Although Britain and France were at war, he thought he would be safe because of the scientific nature of his journey. However, he was arrested and jailed for more than six years. In captivity, he recorded the details of his voyages and put forth the rationale for naming the new continent "Australia", as an umbrella term for New Holland and New South Wales (which two other explorers had named the west and east coasts of the Island). His health had suffered and although he returned to London in 1810, he died at 40 in 1814. The location of his grave had been lost by the mid 19th century. Amazingly, in January of this year, archaeologists excavating a former burial ground near London's Euston railway station reported that his remains had been identified!!
We then went to the Mornington Peninsula Chocolaterie for a tasting. We tasted a number of delicious chocolate bars, as well as some chocolate covered espresso beans and ginger and some honeycomb. There was also a chocolate pistachio and hazelnut spread to taste. They were very accommodating in giving me extra dark chocolate to taste as I can't eat milk chocolate.
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| In the Easter mood for the tasting-- lots of samples and bars |
Their gourmet collection had lovely scenes painted on the wrappers from the Mornington Peninsula. Our favourite was a Dark Chocolate bar with Lemon, Lime and Mint. We have found a piece of chocolate is a very nice dessert to have at the end of a day.
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| We bought the bar on the lower shelf |
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| Getting ready for Easter |
We passed a bay with a beach where our driver indicated that Harold Holt (1908-67), the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, went swimming in rough conditions and disappeared, presumed to have drowned. His body was never recovered and his disappearance spawned a number of conspiracy theories. He had been in office from 1966 until his death in 1967. He was the leader of the Liberal Party during that time. Our driver pointed out that ironically, there is a Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre in Melbourne.
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| Looked a bit rough today |
We headed to our next destination, the Mock Red Hill Cider Lounge and Farmgate, located in Red Hill, in the Hinterland region. The Mock family planted their first orchard in 1895 just outside Melbourne. Five generations later, they continue to grow apples in Red Hill. They have been at this location on the Peninsula for three generations.
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| On the way to the cider lounge we passed Neptune on a tree trunk |
We tasted three alcoholic ciders, two non alcoholic juices (including a very good pear juice); some freeze dried fruits (including strawberries and apples) and ended our tasting with a chocolate dipped freeze dried strawberry. Our favourite was the Classic cider. It was not too sweet and very tasty.
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| Giving us the history of the Mock family before our tasting |
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| Our favourite |
We then had time to go out to their apple orchard. Lovely apples and roosters too!
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| Very ripe apples |
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| Alain talking to the roosters (he had one apple which was delicious) |
We continued our drive through a wooded area.
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| Change in scenery from beaches to forested area inland |
We then went to our final destination, the Sunny Ridge strawberry farm. Sunny Ridge is a third generation property operated by the Gallace family since 1968. It is known for its strawberries and they are good! We donned little blue booties and had an opportunity to go into the fields and pick about a quart's worth of berries. Unfortunately, it started to rain just after we got started. Alain's booties ripped immediately and I finished picking his allotment of berries.
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| Sunny Ridge-- very popular place to pick, shop and have treats (including farm made strawberry ice cream and sorbet) on the holiday Monday |
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| With our berries in their shop |
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| Alain in the mud before the rain and his booties ripped |
Our driver then drove us up to the highest spot on the Peninsula, known as Arthurs Seat. It was named by Acting Lieutenant John Murray when he entered Port Phillip in
HMS Lady Nelson in 1802, for an apparent resemblance to the hill of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh (which was his home city). Mathew Flinders also climbed this peak in his explorations.
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| View from Arthur's peak |
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| At the Summit |
One couple on the bus had purchased tickets to take the Arthurs Seat Eagle, a gondola, from the summit down to the bottom of the peak. The bus dropped them at the gondola, and we met them at the end of their ride down the hill.
We made good time driving back to Melbourne and were dropped off just before 5:30 p.m. It was too nice to go inside so we wandered down to the river and decided to have a drink at the Ponyfish Island Bar under the Yarra Pedestrian Bridge. It was a great spot for a drink and to watch the sun slowly set.
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| Crowd at the Ponyfish Island Bar |
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| Enjoying the sun |
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| Great local organic beer- Mountain Goat Ale |
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| Alain had a cider- lovely light |
We went back to the apartment for a fish dinner. It was a very full day-- wine, chocolate, cider, strawberries, lovely beaches and views on the Mornington Peninsula (the rain didn't dampen our spirits) and then back to a lovely early evening in Melbourne.
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